Brook nabs Japan Art kudos

NEW YORK — Brit legit director Peter Brook has won the Japan Art Assn.’s 1997 Praemium Imperiale Award for theater. The award, among five being announced today in Rome, carries a $150,000 prize.

The Imperiales were established in 1989 to honor arts categories not covered by the Nobel Prize. In addition to Brook, this year’s recipients are Richard Meier (architecture) and George Segal (sculpture), both of the U.S.; Gerhard Richter (painting), of Germany; and Ravi Shankar (music), of India.

Brook, who won a Tony Award for 1964’s “Marat/Sade,” has had an extensive career in theater, film and opera. He currently is preparing the film “I am a Phenomenon,” and will direct Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” at the 1998 Festival in Aix en Provence.

Previous winners of the Imperiale include John Gielgud, Leonard Bernstein, Ingmar Bergman and I.M. Pei.